Recently Seen, part 11 (March, 2016)
Our last thread went for two years!
Our Little Sister Umimachi Diary (2015) • Japan
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
10/10
About half way through I was filled with joy by this movie about nice people getting along with very little drama in their lives. About 3/4 of the way through I started to question the feasibility of the venture and began to imagine ways the film might introduce some drama. I took a break. When I came back I was happy to be in the company of these people again. This is a beautiful film. Of the 1% or so of directors in the world I'm aware of, Koreeda has just cemented himself as the greatest living one.
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A Hard Day Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da (2014) • South Korea
Director: Seong-hoon Kim
7.3/10
This is what I love about Korean cinema. A ridiculous premise played straight: A guy, on the way to his mother's funeral, thinks he just hit a man with his car and killed him. He ends up stashing the body in his mom's coffin. With her in it. Gotta be the best "sorry mom" you'll ever see.
There are two kills in this movie that are also what I like about K-cinema. They're quick, subtle, and huge.
I'm not generally a fan of Sun-kyun Lee. He seems to whine his way through most films. But here it works. Fun movie.
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Exit Hui guang zoumingqu (2014) • Taiwan
Director: Hsiang Chienn
6/10
Exit isn't meant to be a pleasant film, but it seems like it wants to be an important one. It thinks it's doing a woman power thing, but the director spoils his own movie by injecting his personality into it. There's a lot to admire, but I didn't enjoy it.
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Over Your Dead Body Kuime (2014) • Japan
Director: Takashi Miike
6.8/10
Great atmosphere. A group of actors rehearsing a stage play, Kaiden. Most of it is shot on the stage. A bloody fetus notwithstanding this is Miike the professional more than Miike the provocateur. It will bore most Miike fans, but I liked it.
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The Silenced Gyeongseonghakyoo: Sarajin Sonyeodeul (2015) • South Korea
Director: Hae-young Lee
6.9/10
This film deserves to be Whispering Corridors 5 more than the film that was released with that name. The school here is a private one up in the forested mountains with basements and caves providing some eerie sets. I wish it would have stuck with eerie and psychological. It gets a little bloody at the end. I didn't see that coming, and/but it works. The girls at the school are there because they have some disease, like tuberculosis. Their families don't want to care for them any more so they won't be missed if something happens to them. Drum roll.
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Kuro Hanare banareni (2012) • Japan
Director: Daisuke Shimote
5.7/10
Long takes where nothing happens fill this film that follows three characters who hang out at at an abandoned seaside inn. I could have liked this a lot but, a few things: one of the guys is supposed to be a hip young fashionable director who wears a scarf and a hat. I don't think the actor who plays him has ever worn a scarf or a hat in his life. It shows. So he was no fun. The second guy had most of the narrative drift, but he's completely nondescript. No harm, no foul, but it doesn't make the film good. Finally, the girl is a pretty cool, tough, smart whippersnapper, who for no reason, or the wrong reasons, is also a little mean. No point to that (in this context) except for deducting points.
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Office O piseu (2015) • South Korea
Director: Won-Chan Hong
5.1/10
I had high hopes for this one: a group of office workers unravel after learning that one of their colleagues took a hammer to his family. Yep. This film starts off with a guy bashing his wife, his mother, and his son to death with a hammer--South Korean style in concept, but it's tamer than usual. We don't actually see it, but we know it happens.
Most of the scary tension points are the result of a dream or a hallucination. Or worse, something unexplained that's similar. It's a very common trick in horror movies. Think An American Werewolf in London (1981). The problem here is that after each one happens, you realize it hasn't developed the narrative and so it feels cheap.
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A Bizarre Love Triangle Cheoleobtneun anaewa paramanjanhan nampyeon geurigo taekwon sonyeo (2002) • South Korea
Director: Mu-yeong Lee
4.9/10
I stumbled across this opportunity to watch me some vintage Hyo-jin Kong. She is, of course, awesome as a lesbian martial arts instructor. But this film is less than B-grade humor, and for some reason, instead of just telling the story they have some people from outer space in the future tell it. Things get tied up at the end but the film isn't worth it for other Hyo-jin Kong devotees to seek out.
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Mojin - The Lost Legend The Ghouls (2015) • China
Director: Wuershan
5/10
There are a few really good action/suspense scenes in this film about a group of grave robbers, but that's it. The humor is mostly the obnoxious kind, and the 'romance' angle was of the kind where one party insults the other one for the whole movie so we'd never guess there's love brewing. This film is that dumb.
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Watched some Oscar bait just to keep up:
Truth [2015] • Australia, USA
Director: James Vanderbilt
9.1/10
The best of the bunch by far. Because Cate Blanchett. We don't get to watch this movie as much as watch her chew it up and spit it out at us. Excellent. It's the story of the Dan Rather case that got him fired. Robert Redford plays Dan. Why haven't you heard of this film?
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Spotlight [2015] • USA
Director: Tom McCarthy
5/10
Amateur hour compared to Truth.
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Bridge of Spies [2015] • USA, Germany, India
Director: Steven Spielberg
6/10
The guy who plays the Russian spy is great. I'm glad he won an award. Other than that this is just Spielberg splooge. It has its place.
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The Big Short [2015] • USA
Director: Adam McKay
7.7/10
If I didn't think this film did a disservice to the country by making lite of the disasters contained within, I'd give it a higher score. It's paced well, and acted very well. It does help you understand what went down during the financial meltdown of 2008. And I actually liked the spoofing about bits (some random celebrity, like Anna Nicole-Smith naked in a bubble bath, explain the finer points of an issue such as a Credit Default Swap), and understand why the director went with them. Something bugged me tho. Everyone should watch this movie.
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The Hateful Eight [2016] • USA
Director: Quentin Tarantino
6.9/10
Lots of talent as a film maker on display, but most of the script felt like that bit QT does in some kitchen about Top Gun. It's little bits of mumbo jumbo QT wants to blab on about, and offer an opportunity to drop N-bombs. Golly, he's cool.
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Steve Jobs [2015] • USA
Director: Danny Boyle
5/10
I love Aaron Sorkin but his style is un-Mac like.
\_-|/`— ... my opinions are incomplete. always will be